Breathless

A/N:Oh my god. 101 favorites? That's over the 100 mark! And you guys just beat my old story's record. For that, I give you this early, before Chapter 5 is done. Since I got 100 buckin' people waiting.

(...but, that leaves you with another cliffhanger. I wanted to finish Chapter 5, so...yeah. I guess you guys can say that you deserved it. :trollface:)

"Nngh...ugh...go away, sun. I'm...tryin' to sleep..."

Rainbow Dash frowned, batting absently at the errant sunbeam of which landed directly over her eyes. Of course, it was not a tangible force, and continued relentlessly pouring onto her tightly closed eyes.

Her rose eyes drifted slowly open, remaining in a squinting position as she adjusted to the sudden deluge of brightness. Urgh, this is exactly why I always sleep with my back to the sun...

After lying for a few rather unpleasant moments in the sun, Dash attempted to sit up. Her efforts were met by utter failure-the soft fluff of the mattress called to her quickly, as her back and leg muscles quivered in their effort to hoist herself from the sheets. Sighing, she flopped back onto the pillow. Already, her head had begun to pound heavily, eliciting a slight moaning from the pegasus. Sheesh, headaches day after day, huh...

The headache soon proved to be the least of her worries, however. As her cognitive senses awoke along with her finer mental faculties, she was aware of a slight sheen of sweat that covered her entire body, along with a rather persistent dull aching. It puzzled her, but as she grasped awkwardly at her head, the apparent heat of the air around her became largely apparent.

"Nngh..." she said, repeating the vaguely drowsy sound she had made only minutes ago. The sudden coarseness of her voice didn't help much as she continued. "Applejack. Y'there?"

No response from either next to her, or even from the door. The cyan mare frowned. "Applejack." she insisted, raising her voice slightly. "Hello?"

The door did, in fact, find itself being swung open a few seconds later. The face peeking in, however, was not the expected one. It was a small, yellow face, with curiously sparkling gamboge eyes. "She ain't in here at th' moment," said Apple Bloom. "Want me t' get her for ya'? Anythin' ya need? 'cause Applejack said that while she's out buckin' trees, if ya' need anything that ah can get, ah should get it, so..."

Rainbow thought it over as much as her foggy mind could. If Applejack was busy, should she really intrude like that? Then again, she did say...

She drew breath to reply. "I...think you should go get her. It could be...kind of big."

The filly nodded, and with a quick hop, she sprang away from the door, calling for her sister all the while.

The cerulean mare sighed, leaning back into the bed. Her eyes closed moments later-it seemed there was an unusual strain on even keeping them open. Not to mention the way that her stomach seemed to quarrel with self-deprecating intentions, it was rather unpleasant all in all.

"Rainbow? Ya'll right?" The worried voice shook the pegasus out of her stupor, and she pulled her eyes open. Applejack stood in the doorway, brow drawn low over her gaze. Though she was slightly out of breath, likely from the exertion of bucking thick, tonne-weighted trees, it didn't seem to be any difference in changing her demeanor.

"I can't say for sure..." said Dash. "I'm not feelin' too hot, that's for sure."

The earth pony wordlessly trotted over to the rainbow maned flier, carefully looking her over. Eventually, she placed a hoof against the pegasus' forehead, before withdrawing it. "Well, ain't it no wonder..." she said. "I'm not a doctor, but ah'm pretty sure ya' got a fever or something of the sorts. Ya'll are burning up."

Great. "Ain't much I can do fer' that," continued Applejack. "I never was one who knew much 'bout treatin' ponies, but..." she shrugged. "I'll do what ah can. Hang tight for a sec'."

With that, the orange mare quickly withdrew from the room, with an urgency rivaled only by a distressed mother attempting to save one of her foals from an untimely fate. As such, Dash only had to wait for an estimated half-minute before Applejack re-entered the room, though Rainbow only knew so because of the gentle clip-clop of hoof steps. Once again, she had succumbed to the temptation of resting her eyes, as they seemed to be heavier than a bloated storm cloud.

The cyan mare felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. "Sit up for a second please," said a voice, decidedly Applejack's. Rainbow obliged, managing to prop herself up from the lower back and up with the aid of her feathery head cushions. "Ya'll need to drink some water."

The next few minutes were quite a haze to Rainbow Dash.

She did, in fact, offer the proffered glass, drinking rather eagerly-she was more parched than she thought she was. Apple Bloom had re-entered shortly after she had finally managed to rest her head back upon the pillow, allowing her eyelids to sink down, cutting out her vision. After a quick "thank ya' kindly", the orange mare had draped a cool, dampened cloth across her forehead. Though it did little to soothe the head pains, it did somewhat reduce the uncomfortable stuffiness that'd presided previously.

For minutes after, the country pony remained, talking about things that she couldn't remember if she tried-something about trees, something about Twilight, and even about the pegasus herself. It was a mystery as to when the stetsoned mare had left, but she remembered how she'd went.

Applejack had given a quick nuzzle to the half-responsive flier, before quickly arising, speaking few words.

"Gotta' get back to work. Hope ya'll feel better."

And then, as soon as the click-clack of a walking pony reached the door, they stopped. "I, uh..." The other mare had hesitated there, a slight shuffling sound catching the cyan mare's ears. Though she felt only a smidgen better, her senses had quickly returned, and now she could make out the low keyed mumbling that the orange mare continued with.

"I, uh.." she had echoed. "Ah wanted to...talk, but...I 'spose it could wait...plus, ah...ah need some time alone. Just...don't wait up."

And then she was gone, in a hail storm of hoof steps.

Almost as quickly, Dash succumbed to the gentle calling of darkness, leaving her with a single thought:

What the buck is going on?

"Dashie...Dashie..."

Rainbow frowned, shifting around under the bedsheets that wrapped around her. Hopefully, with this minor action, the phantom voice would disappear.

"D-Dashie...please, w-wake up..."

Once more, Rainbow Dash moved around, pawing at the air, annoyed. Go away. I need my sleep about as much as you're annoying...

Instead of a voice, a rather abrupt sniffling came from her left. A great silence followed, punctuated only by the choking off of apparent sadness.

"J-just for a second...please..." pleaded the rather bothersome voice, shattering what had been a rather enjoyable silence.

"If you say one more word...I swear to Celestia, I'll-"

"Shhh!" interjected the voice, albeit rather unsteadily. "Be quiet! You gotta' me-promise that you'll stay silent, all right? Nopony knows I'm here!"

Me-promise? Either they meant 'promise me', or...no way. Could it be...

"Pinkie Pie?"

A half-hearted giggle now emanated from beside her. "Nice guess, Dashie! No eye cheatin' for you, huh?"

The pegasus turned to face the pink mare, managing to pull her eyes open as she did so.

And frowned even deeper, if it were possible.

Sure enough, in the dim moonlight-I slept all day, didn't I?-there stood Pinkie, the party pony who presided precariously pompously in her partying pride over pretty little Ponyville. But she was different. Instead of her incredibly bouncy, almost rubber-like quality hair which bounced around to no end, there hung a straight mane. Devoid of any fun, or flavor.

Gone was the ear-stretching quality of the earth pony's smiles. She wore one now, but it seemed incredibly forced. And was it her, or was there a soft glinting upon her cheek that twinkled gently in the shafts of moonlight?

"Do you have a second or two...?" asked Pinkie, her seemingly fake smile slowly waning. Unconsciously, the pegasus nodded, all attempts to make a witty comment forgotten.

The pink pony chuckled. "Of course you do..." she muttered. "I...just have a question for you."

"Was it really worth waking me up at...Celestia knows when?" asked Rainbow Dash, a hint of malice re-entering her voice.

Ignoring the biting remark, Pinkie Pie continued. "I...is it true? Do you really..."

"...do I really...?"

"I mean, I..." Pinkie trailed off, evidently fumbling for words. "...would you ever leave me, Rainbow?"

"Pinkie?" Dash pulled herself up, noting that the fever must have been broken, since the effort required was now minuscule rather than major. "Are you all right? What would make you ask something like that? Of course I wouldn't! You're my best frie-"

"Yes, I know, best friend..." interrupted Pinkie, sighing. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was definitely keeping her down. And such action was pretty difficult-Pinkie Pie always looked on the optimistic side. If there was one. "It's just..."

The pink mare's gaze dropped, and once more, she was fumbling for words as she swiped at her face for whatever reason. Her head eventually raised once more, and even though the moonlight only gave a very slight picture of rather anything around her, the pegasus could very well see the tears in Pinkie's eyes.

There lay something deeper, however. Something that the cyan mare nearly started upon seeing.

It was sadness. Pure, unmoderated, melancholic sadness. No longer did even a shred of the party pony's upbeat demeanor remain-it was as if someone had decided that too much happiness was too much, and scooped every last bit of it out of the happiest pony to ever exist.

"Pinkie...?" said Dash, absently reaching out a hoof towards her friend. "Come on, what's wrong? We aren't going to get anywhere by hopping around like this..."

"It's about y-yesterday..." The fuchsia maned pony's gaze dropped once again, hiding the trail of tears from the concerned flier's eyes.

"Yesterday?" By now, the cyan mare had actually made an attempt to slide out from the bed, and found that her legs supported her quite well. The only weakness that showed was landing, and even then, the second that her legs buckled seemed incredibly short. She now walked over to the distraught mare, gently lifting her head with her forehoof. "Pinkie, it's all right." she reassured the earth pony. "It's nothing that you could've stopped yourself from doing, and you would've found out sooner or later."

"Not that, Dashie." replied Pinkie, batting away the hoof which held her gaze up, though she continued looking straight into Rainbow's eyes, as if she could see her soul. "I...are you happy, Rainbow?"

"Happy? Happy?" Dash's voice escalated in what could be called pure disbelief. "Pinkie, this is why you're upset? I mean, to answer you, sure! But not if you aren't! What sorta' question is that, anyways? Would you really have any trouble-"

In the middle of possibly the largest tirade she'd gone on in a year, Rainbow Dash felt herself being attacked by a huge, eager ball of pink fur. Too late, she tried to brace herself.

But there was nothing to brace for except for the emotional impact that followed.

In fact, the fur was none other than Pinkie. Instead of bowling the cyan pegasus over, she had stopped short, instead burying her face into Rainbow's shoulder. Her front hooves went around the pegasus simultaneously, pulling her tight. It was enough to silence Dash, as the pink pony gently shook in her embrace.

It was a great few seconds before Rainbow Dash found a free hoof to return to Pinkie, awkwardly patting her back. This seemed only to make the pink pony more upset, allowing a few mournful cries to eke out at a level that was actually audible.

Eventually, Pinkie Pie spoke, her words slightly muffled as she refused to rise from the crook in the pegasus' neck. "I g-guess that's fine, but...it's too late...I know you and Applejack want to be together, and live the happy life that everypony dreams of, but..."

It was then that the pink mare pulled back, aiming her thoroughly submersed light blue irises towards the confused cyan pony. As soon as her gaze dropped once more, so did the rest of herself, leaving her chin on the floor, hooves crossed over her muzzle, as if trying to halt what she said next. But go on, Pinkie Pie did.

And it was the complete opposite of what the rather intrigued flier had been expecting.

"I-...I thought that we could do it together..."

A/N:

"ZOMGWTFOMGBBQTJGSRWICEFTSNWTHAYTTRSALAGSGSHDUXGFFUXGCKVHOGTFFFYJFDUHDFGDFFBBKPKHŸÖXDUZĆÑSTCHÀRĘHÔTPØÑŸSĖXTACOBELLQUEENWHATEVERDAIRYSTUFFILIKETURTLESDONTTOUCHTHATCACTUSSUNTOUCHESCWCTUSYOUREDEADTOMELOLASDFMOVIEGREENGIANTFANCLUBATTACKINGMIDGETGANGSTERS???!?!?!?!!!!"

There. Now you don't have to leave any comments saying that. I did it for you.

'welcome.

Any comments NOT expressing incoherent surprise-coherent surprise welcome, as long as some sorta' prediction is included-are encouraged. I call to attention my earlier blog post, though. The one first mentioning this story.

Now that I have the actual plot to follow, progress should be somewhat quicker, and less...random.

Also, about the title...Amour(n):a usually illicit love affair. So eeyup. Drama up in this bitch.